A Robeson County court has ordered the immediate release of Two North Carolina brothers from jail after declaring innocent for the rape and murder of an 11-year-old girl in 1983.

Henry McCollum, 50, and his half-brother Leon Brown, 46, have already spent 30 years in prison for the crime that the court said they did not commit based on the DNA samples that showed no traces of the two.

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McCollum is the longest-serving death row inmate in North Carolina. He was 19 when he was sentenced. Brown, meanwhile, was sentenced to life imprisonment for rape. He was 15 when the crime occurred.

The two were arrested in 1983 for the rape and murder of 11-year-old Sabrina Buie. Buie's body was discovered in a field in Red Springs.

On Tuesday, North Carolina Superior Court Judge Douglas Sasser ordered the immediate release of the two men, whom court records show are intellectually disabled.

The prosecution did not contest to the decision of the court that found the two convicts innocent of the 1983 crime.

Even with the conviction of the two half-brothers, the court did not close the case and continued accepting evidences.

On Tuesday, result of a DNA test from a cigarette butt that was found near the victim's body pointed to another person, Roscoe Artis.

Artis, who had a long history of assaulting women, is serving a life sentence for the rape and murder of an 18-year-old girl one month after the 11-year-old Buei was raped and murdered. Artis is now 74.

The DNA evidence was proof enough for Judge Sasser to declare the two brothers innocent of the crime and order their immediate freedom. It was still uncertain if the two men will receive financial compensation for the erroneous conviction.

An emotional McCollum said he never gave up hope even if he and his brother have lost 30 years of their lives.

TagsNorth Carolina Brothers, Henry McCollum, Leon Brown